The X-Files Review by John Keegan

The X-Files 11.01: My Struggle III

Written By:Chris Carter

Directed By:Chris Carter

The tenth season of The X-Files was a mixed bag.
While some of the “monster of the week” episodes were as strong as ever,
the new additions to the mythology seemed contradictory and needlessly
revisionist (not to mention characteristically obtuse). With only six episodes to work with, there
seemed to be missed opportunities. So
while having ten more episodes for this presumably final season gives fans
renewed hope for a more balanced farewell, the memory of those missteps from
Season 10 linger.

“My Struggle II”, the tenth season finale, was
particularly frustrating. Beyond being
typically complicated and even contradictory in terms of character motivations
(I’m looking at you, Monica Reyes), it also ended on a gratuitous and
unnecessary cliffhanger that represented everything that Chris Carter had done
wrong with the series mythology over the years.
Why keep the series so blatantly unresolved, when there was no guarantee
of a chance to provide a conclusion?

At the onset, this episode threatens more of
the same. All those plot points that
made fans want to throw things at their television screens in “My Struggle II”? It was just a “vision” playing out in Scully’s
head. So the cliffhanger that enraged so
many fans was utterly meaningless.
Instead, it boils down to the same search for William by various
conspiratorial forces that dominated the tenth season. That much of the narrative thrust of that
short season is quickly retconned out of existence is irritating, to say the
least.

But more irritating is the constant revisionism
of character histories. Cancer Man’s
motivations continue to be tossed in a blender along with his personal
background (why does he have a new real name?).
While the episode eventually reconfirms certain plot points revealed
during the original run, other items are completely ignored, forgotten, or
casually dismissed. While the Syndicate’s
plan was always tied to managing a “planned Armageddon”, it seems too simplistic and reductionist to
have Cancer Man pushing so hard for it.
And the notion that there are other remaining Syndicate members goes
completely against the events of the sixth season, when practically everyone in
the original Syndicate was killed off in spectacular fashion.

Ironically, the “big twist” that many probably
expect me to deride is a surprising follow-up to a narrative oddity from the
seventh season. “En Ami” was a strange
but effective episode that featured Scully and Cancer Man working together, and
the scene where Scully just happens to wake up in a bed in pajamas raised
eyebrows at the time, to say the least.
And when Scully was later pregnant at the end of the seventh season,
some speculated that the events of “En Ami” were all too indicative that it was
something sinister. Bringing that
suspicion back into full blown is an intriguing choice, even if it underscores
the tension of digging deep into items of the mythology while ignoring or
revising vast aspects of it.

On the other hand, the current stakes are
precisely what they once were: an old and fractured Syndicate trying to use a
virus derived from the essence of aliens that once sought to colonize Earth to
reboot humanity for various purposes, promising various players the possibility
of immunity in exchange for paving the way.
And once again, Mulder and Scully are caught in the middle, especially
now that Scully’s son William (still possibly Mulder’s, since Cancer Man always
lies) is old enough to be showing off all the emerging abilities hinted at in
the ninth season.

What remains to be seen is whether or not Chris
Carter got the message given by Gillian Anderson and others that this will be
the final season for the series. If he
did, then William makes sense as the final “key to everything”. If not, then we probably have another
unnecessary cliffhanger waiting in the wings.
If past experience is any indication, fans should probably prepare
themselves to receive some enjoyable new standalone episodes that serve as a
loveletter to the fandom before a disappointing final mythological bow.

Our Grade:

C+

The Good:

The worst elements of the tenth season finale are wiped away in a matter of seconds

Following up on an obscure plot point from a past season is classic X-Files

The Bad:

Was it necessary to retcon the background and motivations of “Cancer Man” yet again?

Once again the story revolves around making Scully suffer

John Keegan aka "criticalmyth", is one of the hosts of the "Critical Myth" podcast heard here on VOG Network's radio feed Monday, Wednesday & Friday. You can follow him on twitter at @criticalmyth

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